In June of last year, a female solicitor says she was "subject to a degrading incident" while trying to visit a client at Cloverhill Prison.
At the search area, the alarm sounded - she took off her shoes, earrings, watch, and jacket when asked.
But the beeping continued.
The young solicitor claims she was then asked by make officers if she was wearing any underwear.
They told her she wouldn't be allowed inside if the alarm didn't stop.
The woman says a group of male prison officers instructed her to take off her bra.
She cried the whole way home and hasn't been back since.
Excl: A young female solicitor was told she had to remove her bra to visit a client in a Dublin prison and was forced to sit without it in an interview with her client and a SC. She says she is traumatised and has not visited a prison since. https://t.co/WJLRtdkFGq
— aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) July 5, 2021
Male Colleague Was Treated Differently To Her
Irish Examiner reporter Aoife Moore says the solicitor later found out her male colleague was treated very differently:
"The starkest this is, she went back to her office, to her law firm."
"There she explained the situation to her superiors."
"She found out that the previous week, her male colleague had gone to the same prison, to see the same client."
"He'd gone through the security monitors 3 times, and it beeped each time."
"However no such request was made of him."
"While it continued to beep, he was allowed in to see the client."
The Irish Prison Service has confirmed it received a complaint and investigated the incident.
While the Law Society says over the past few years it has raised concerns about security protocols at prisons.
Its concerns included the measures particular impact on female legal advisors.
